Why mAb mixtures

What is a mAb Mixture Product?

A monoclonal antibody (mAb) mixture is a mixture of carefully selected, well-characterized recombinant mAbs, each of which binds to a different binding site on one or more targets. These targets are typically cell surface receptors, or soluble free-floating proteins (eg. ligands). A single mAb mixture product may be comprised of two or more full length mAbs which, when combined, provide the product with both specificity and diversity.

Antibody Therapeutics

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have become a successful therapeutic drug class due to their specificity, efficacy, and the low level of adverse effects they induce. They are single-targeting molecules meaning that all antibodies in a drug product are identical and therefore bind specifically to only one binding site on one target. Such single-targeting molecules offer specificity but not diversity, which may help explain why a recombinant mAb drug is less likely to completely neutralize or eliminate targets involved in disease, and consequently why mAbs may provide limited clinical benefit.

To improve efficacy, and to otherwise optimize drug features of mAbs, various engineered versions of antibody-like formats have emerged. Many are quite different from the antibody structure naturally found in humans, raising uncertainty about the level of immunogenicity (or adverse reactions) they can cause. Among these are bispecific antibodies that enable dual targeting which may be well-suited for recruitment of T-cells or forced interaction of two receptors on tumor cells. In addition to immunogenicity concerns this antibody format is hampered by manufacturing difficulties. Importantly, bispecific antibodies are limited in their ability to simultaneously reach targets that are differentially expressed on cancer cells. The two specificities on a bispecific antibody cannot be titered independently and steric hindrance may limit their potential to simultaneously target multiple cancer targets in different locations.

Symphogen's mAb mixture approach

Symphogen's mAb mixture approach is considered the most diverse and flexible mAb format and the closest to a natural antibody response. It is uniquely suited for true multi-targeting, which is key to deal with complex diseases such as cancer. With Symphogen's mAb mixtures it is possible to simultaneously address multiple distant targets or targets with different expression levels. Symphogen has established the technologies and know how to produce and characterize mAb mixtures as single drug products using standard large-scale biological manufacturing techniques.